In the columns of Japanese media Octane, Kazunori Yamauchi explains that Gran Turismo 7 will follow in the footsteps of older games, including Gran Turismo 1 and Gran Turismo 4, while incorporating elements from Gran Turismo Sport, which emphasizes online play.
We see Gran Turismo as a cutting-edge game and have taken on new challenges with each change of generation. This is why each episode has its own fans, but sometimes the changes surprise users. For example, with Gran Turismo Sport we took on the challenge of esports and online gaming, but some gamers considered this direction odd. We had 9.5 million users, but the game did not sell very well initially, rather it has grown gradually over these three years. I think we were able to do something quite ambitious. That’s why, with Gran Turismo 7, we’re taking things put forward in Gran Turismo Sport like the championships, while returning to a traditional large-scale experience like Gran Turismo 1 and 4 to make the best Gran Turismo possible. Fans of the old Gran Turismo may feel a bit of nostalgia.
-Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital.
On the official site of Gran Turismo 7, Sony promises that this opus will offer “the best features drawn from the history of the franchise” by drawing “from the past, present and future of Gran Turismo”. We will find in particular the FIA Championships, the online Sport mode, the GT simulation mode and many classic vehicles and circuits of the license. On the technical side, the game will use ray tracing, Tempest 3D Audio Tech sound technology, as well as the adaptive triggers and advanced haptic feedback of the Dualsense controller.
Announced exclusively on PS5, Gran Turismo 7 has not shown since the release of its first trailer in June 2020. Its release was announced for the first half of 2021 in an advertisement, but the mention has since been withdrawn to display a vague “2021” instead.